Jef Murray

Great Adventure but Hypocritical Worldview, Jun 25 2003

Make no mistake; Pullman can write. His characters are interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed the romp throught the Universe represented by the Golden Compass and the Subtle Knife. I would give Pullman 5 stars for creativity and for fun and adventure. I would give him fewer stars for depth of characters created, but still would rank him highly.

Why, then, the 2 stars?

Pullman's whole purpose in writing these books, as far as I can tell, was to blame all of the world's problems on the evils of authoritarianism. OK, fair enough. But _any_ authoritarianism isn't good enough; for Pullman, there is only _one_ authoritarianism, and that's the authoritarianism of the Catholic church.

I won't… Read more

Great Adventure; Conflicted and Deeply Bigoted Worldview, Jun 20 2003

The story of Lyra and Will and their attempts
to understand the universe and its nature is fun and gripping.
Pullman's ability to evoke realistic worlds and images is
amazing. His characters, on the whole, are interesting and
compelling, and his creativity is second to none. The books
attempt to deal with the great themes of philosophic and theological
thought: the nature of evil, the nature of redemption, the
power of love, loyalty, the consequences of our actions and
choices, etc. However, the overall message
is fatally marred by what can only be described as the
personal blind spot of the author himself.

It becomes clear in The Golden… Read more

Great Adventure; Conflicted and Deeply Bigoted Worldview, Jun 20 2003

The story of Lyra and Will and their attempts
to understand the universe and its nature is fun and gripping.
Pullman's ability to evoke realistic worlds and images is
amazing. His characters, on the whole, are interesting and
compelling, and his creativity is second to none. The books
attempt to deal with the great themes of philosophic and theological
thought: the nature of evil, the nature of redemption, the
power of love, loyalty, the consequences of our actions and
choices, etc. However, the overall message
is fatally marred by what can only be described as the
personal blind spot of the author himself.

It becomes clear in The Golden… Read more